Community garden may grow brighter future | VIDEO

Teens create an organic garden for Memorial Baptist Church in Evansville, Ind.

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ERIN McCRACKEN/Courier & Press
Members of the Memorial Garden Program team from left, Nautica Banks, 14, De'Ajala Harris, 14, Mariah Henderson 14, and Tanisha Hayes-Motley, 15, rake freshly tilled earth as they help to prepare to plant corn, green beans, watermelon and cucumbers Wednesday morning at their garden plot along Garvin Street near Memorial Baptist Church. The garden program, which is in its third year, is a Youth Employment Opportunity and provides young people ages 14-to-21 from low- to moderate-income families with summer jobs as well as well as provide them and the community with access to fresh fruits and vegetables at an affordable price.

ERIN McCRACKEN

EVANSVILLE - "Ew! You got sweat on me," Ishaiah Williams, 17, said to co-worker Jasheed Bradley, 15, as they stood among the tomato plants in the Memorial Baptist community garden.

"But it's hard-earned sweat," Bradley replied.

They were among 18youngsters ages 14-21 watching that sweat grow into the fruit of labor: the earth was prepared and planted, hopefully for a harvest as part of the Memorial Garden Program.

The program, which was started three years ago, is funded through the Department of Metropolitan Development and helps low- to moderate-income families and serves the community by providing them with access to fresh fruits and vegetables.

"Sometimes this area, the inner city and low- to moderate-income areas, are considered 'food deserts' because we have less access to obtain fresh fruits and vegetables at a decent price," said Serita Cabell, deputy director of the Memorial Community Development Corp.

Another goal is to help educate the teenagers and community about organic gardening as a means of providing food for themselves and others at an affordable cost.

"We teach them (the teenagers) how to get dirty, so they will appreciate hard work and see the rewards of their hard work," said Everett Warfield, field supervisor for the program. "We want to encourage other people in the community to have their own garden so they can provide for themselves."

Surplus produce is donated to local food pantries, homeless shelters and senior citizens as well as sold at a market held the first and third Saturdays of the month at Memorial Baptist Church starting at 9 a.m.

This year the Memorial Community Development Corp. programs, which include the gardening as well as Front Door Pride, in which young people clean neighborhoods and alleys, hired twice the number of teenagers from the previous year.

About 91 young people were hired to work at least 13 hours a week for wages above the minimum to boost their families' income.

"Probably the biggest benefit to the teenagers in the program is just helping out their household," Cabell said. "Because we have to do income verification, a majority of the kids, I would say 90 percent have to be from low- to moderate-income families, which is 30 to 50 percent of the income of what the median income of their area is. Many of our kids are coming from incomes of $15,000 or less, so them being able to bring that extra income into their household is the biggest benefit.

"But also the benefit of having access to the food. While we do donations and sell food we also make sure our kids are able to eat as well and take the 'fruits of their labor' home to their families," Cabell said.

Although the teens in the program have only worked for a few weeks so far this summer, they have already learned a lot and have a new appreciation for working hard and getting dirty.

Williams said several people warned her the work was going to be hard and she was going to get dirty, but she didn't expect to enjoy gardening as much as she has.

"I have learned a lot about plants, how they grow and how each plant needs to be watered differently," Williams said, "but I think its fun, even the getting dirty part."